Mail-wagon.



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G. F. DE GRUOT.

MAIL WAGUN.

. (Application Bled Dec. 4, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

INVENTOR BY www.

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No. 675,088; Patented May 28, I90l. G. F. DE GROOT.

MAIL WAGON.

(Application lad Dec. 4, 1900,) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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Nirnn Sterns Arent OFFICE.

GEORGE F. DE GROOT, OF MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY, ASSI-GNOR OF ONE- HALF TO JOHN S. W. THOMPSON, OF SAME PLACE, AND lVARREN B. HUTOl-IINSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MAIL-WAGO N..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,088, dated May 28, 1901.

Application iiled December 4, 1900. Serial No. 38,707. (No model.)

T @ZZ wtont it ntrty concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE' F. DE GROOT, of Morristown, Morris county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-VVagons, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. p

My invention relates to improvements in mail-wagons such as are adapted to suburio ban or house-to-house delivery.

The object of my invention is to produce a wagon having alight interior which can be driven by a motor or drawn by a horse, which is constructed so as to enable the mail to be I 5 conveniently assorted and distributed, which provides for securing registered 0r valuable mail-matter, which has a separate compartment in which the driver may be placed in such a way as to prevent him from tamper- 2o ing with the mail and still have sufficient freedom, and which is in general adapted to promote the safe and speedy collection or distribution of mail-matter.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiica- 3o tion, in which similar figures of reference designate similar parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved mail-wagon. Fig. 2 is a front end view. Fig.

3 is a sectional plan, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section.

The wagon 10 may be of any usual style or design and may have the customary or any suitable running-gear. My invention relates 4o more particularly to the top portion, which must be of the close or box type, and at the rear end of the body is a platform 11 for the convenience of the carrier, this platform having vertical hand-rails l2 at the sides.

.l ust above the platform 11 are doors 13, to close the rear end of the wagon body or box, and these should be largely of glass, so that they will not darken the interior or mail room of the body or box.

5o The mail-room 14 occupies the whole rear and middle portions of the wagon-box, and may, if necessary, extend forward at the side of the drivers compartment, as presently eX- plained.

In the front portion and preferably at the right-hand corner of the boX are partitions l5 and 16 and a door 17, which form the drivers compartment 18. This compartment is reached from the outside by means of a door 19, which has a suitable lock and also a han- 6o dle 20. The compartment has also a hinged seat 21, and the space 22 beneath can be utilized as storage-space, or, if the vehicle is an automobile, this space can hold the tank or other part of the driving equipment. The compartment 1S has also an inside door 17, which on being opened swings against a Vertical abutment 23 and forms a transverse partition. Thus when the door 17 is opened the drivers compartment is very much enlarged; 7o but the operation does not give him access to the mail-room.

In practice the carrier locks the driver into the compartment 18; but the lock or even the door may be fragile, so that in case of accident the driver can break out. The object of this arrangement is to enable the carrier to be held alone responsible for the mail, so that it is easy to x the responsibility in case of loss of mail-matter. 8o

The front end of the wagon-box has ordinary sliding windows 24 and'25, which should not, however, be large enough to permit the driver to pass through them. In this connection it should be noted that the doors and sides of the wagon-box are liberally provided with glass, to the end that the mail-room may be well lighted.

In the sides of the mail-room are pockets 26, through which mail-matter may be dropped 9o from the outside, and just behindthe drivers compartment 18 is a mail-rack made of the vertical partitions 27 and horizontal shelves I 28, these being pitched or inclined to prevent the mail-matter from sliding out.

Beneath the rack are drawers 29 for the reception of registered or valuable matter; but the rack and drawers may be otherwise disposed, if desired. The rear doors 13 of the wagon should be provided with a lock, so that roo the mail may be secure when the carrier leaves the wagon.

It will be noticed that the described arrangement is very simple and convenient, that the mail can be rapidly assorted and delivered, that the likelihood of loss is reduced to a minimum, and that the wagon is well adapted to the intended purpose.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An improved mail-Wagon comprising a suitably-mounted body portion containing a lighted mail-room, a drivers compartment forward and independent of the mail-room, said compartment being shut oi so as to prevent communication between itself and the mail-room, and a door opening from outside the carriage to the mail-room.

2. In a mail-wagon, the combination with the wagon-box having a mail-room, of a drivers compartment forward of the mail-room, and a swinging door to the drivers compartment arranged to form when open ed a transverse partition between the said drivers compartment and the mail-room.

3. In a mail-wagon the combination with the wagon-box and the mailroom therein, of the drivers compartment forward of the mailroom, and a door to the drivers compartment forming when either closed or opened, a partition between the drivers compartment and the mail-room.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name hereunto in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE F. DE GROOT.

Witnesses:

DoUGLAss H. FRAPWELL, GEORGE I-I. BROWN. 

